Age group: Primary
Domain: Sensorimotor
Workout: Toy Drop
Background
This workout encourages your child to use their somatosensory abilities – their ability to identify and remember objects based on the way they feel. The child is asked to explore small objects then to close their eyes and see if they can guess the identity of the object by touch alone. This workout also may also use visual imagery to construct an image of the object as it is explored. The following skills are specifically targeted:
- Somatosensory abilities
- Fine motor skills
- Visual imagery
- Word retrieval
Did you know…?
The somatosensory strip consists of a strip across both sides of the brain, but the left side corresponds to the sense of touch on the right side of your body, and the right side corresponds to the sense of touch on the left side of the body. Each area of skin on your body is represented on the strip. The greater the area of the somatosensory strip devoted to a particular place, the more sensitive to touch that area will be.
Materials
- Five small objects that can fit in your child’s hand, e.g. a doll, a puzzle piece, a ball, a toy car, and a crayon.
Directions
- Ask your child to hold the toys in his or her hands.
- Ask your child to describe how each toy feels.
- Shake the toys and drop them on the floor or a flat surface.
- With their eyes closed, ask your child to feel for a toy.
- Encourage your child to carefully feel each toy.
- Ask your child to describe the toy and to guess what it is.
Extend this workout
- Use items other than toys, e.g. keys, coins, etc.
[aio_button align=”left” animation=”flash” color=”blue” size=”small” icon=”none” text=”Primary Sensorimotor Tips” url=”//www.lablearner.com/lablearner-cognitive-workouts-2/lablearner-cognitive-workouts-primary/lablearner-cognitive-workouts-primary-sensorimotor-tips/”]